Gadgets for critcal environments

ABSTRACT

Intelligent gadgets to visualize critical environmental data in wet chemistry laboratories, and a healthcare and life science environment that are easy to configure, customize and deploy for web dashboard presentation. It may further reveal an intuitive dashboard framework for creating, managing and publishing a collection of visualization gadgets for critical environments.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure pertains to gadgets and dashboards, andparticularly to a design of the gadgets and dashboards.

SUMMARY

The disclosure may reveal intelligent gadgets to visualize criticalenvironmental data in wet chemistry laboratories, and a healthcare andlife science environment that are easy to configure, customize anddeploy for web dashboard presentation. It may further reveal anintuitive dashboard framework for creating, managing and publishing acollection of visualization gadgets for critical environments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a dashboard with a customizable gadget for acritical environment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a portion of the dashboard showing object modelnavigation;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the dashboard of FIG. 1 but designates, forexample, a hood and a building;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a point table gadget with an additional overridecapability;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a gadget with localization support;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a profile manager and favorites;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of hardware architecture for a dashboard system;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a dashboard system software dataflow;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a dashboard configuration screen;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a point selector screen;

FIG. 11 is a diagram which shows a flowchart for providing a setup of adashboard for a building control system;

FIG. 12 is a diagram of a screen which indicates where a site may beselected for a job;

FIG. 13 is a diagram of a screen where generic dashboard settings may beconfigured;

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a screen showing a resultant dashboard;

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram showing steps for creating a dashboard viewrevealing contributions of a technician and a user;

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a screen which reveals a list of pre-configuredgadgets that may be used on a dashboard;

FIG. 17 is a diagram of a screen which shows vantage functional point'sthat may allow easy point mapping;

FIG. 18 is a diagram of a screen that may indicate an approach formanaging gadgets for a dashboard;

FIG. 19 is a diagram of a table that may list columns supported by apoint viewer gadget;

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a screen showing point names for gadget entriesfor a fume hood;

FIG. 21 is a diagram of a screen that may aid in searching for a vantagefunctional point;

FIG. 22 is a diagram of an example gauge gadget having a speedometerstyle;

FIG. 23 is a diagram of a screen which may aid in configuring a gadget;

FIG. 24 is a diagram a table that may be used as a reference for a userthat wants to choose different points to see in a gadget and be able tochoose the entities for monitoring the points;

FIG. 25 is a diagram of a screen revealing a points table for entrieshaving characteristics;

FIG. 26 is a diagram of a table used to aid in creating gadgets using ageneric point value gadget;

FIG. 27 is a diagram of a screen indicating, for example, a buildingflow status with measurements of various flows;

FIG. 28 is a diagram of a table for showing properties of note items;

FIG. 29 is a diagram of a screen for hood smoke assets listing acertification along with a validation;

FIG. 30 is a diagram of a screen for a smoke hood indicating acertification, validation and notes, if any;

FIG. 31 is a diagram of a table for showing properties of hyperlinkitems;

FIG. 32 is a diagram of a screen showing lab energy dashboardsselectable with buttons;

FIG. 33 is a diagram of a table showing a mapping of information betweena notes gadget and an asset gadget;

FIG. 34 is a diagram of an example unoccupied and operating fumehoodwith an open sash;

FIG. 35 is a diagram of a default point and status selection;

FIG. 36 is a diagram of an example room summary gadget;

FIG. 37 is a diagram of a screen indicating a status of each listedoverall alarm such as for diversity, flow, sash sensor, jam and IO;

FIG. 38 is a diagram of a screen showing a control loop overview for awet chemistry lab;

FIG. 39 is a diagram of a hood gadget showing a hood flow usage;

FIG. 40 is a diagram of an alarm gadget;

FIG. 41 is a diagram of a web connector gadget;

FIG. 42 is a diagram of a point value gadget;

FIG. 43 is a diagram of a trend gadget;

FIG. 44 is a diagram of an object model dashboard for a building;

FIGS. 45, 46 and 47 are diagrams of screenshots showing how a user maycustomize object model dashboards for personal viewing; and

FIG. 48 is a diagram of a list of gadgets that may be easily configuredfor solving critical environmental issues.

DESCRIPTION

The present system and approach may incorporate one or more processors,computers, controllers, user interfaces, wireless and/or wireconnections, and/or the like, in an implementation described and/orshown herein.

This description may provide one or more illustrative and specificexamples or ways of implementing the present system and approach. Theremay be numerous other examples or ways of implementing the system andapproach.

“Waterfall” may be a term designating the software as utilized in thepresent system. In general, a waterfall model may be a sequential designprocess, often used in software development processes, in which progressis seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through thephases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction,testing, production/implementation, and maintenance. The waterfalldevelopment model may have originated in the manufacturing andconstruction industries; highly structured physical environments inwhich after-the-fact changes may be prohibitively costly, if notimpossible. Since no formal software development methodologies existedat the time, this hardware-oriented model had been simply adapted forsoftware development. A waterfall approach to a design of the presentsystem and approach may be adopted. “Waterfall” may be termed as a PC(Phoenix Controls) supervisor and a PC dashboard when dealing with adashboard and gadgets.

An intuitive dashboard framework for creating, managing and publishingcollection of visualization gadgets for critical environments may benoted. The present system may be regarded as a web based dashboard toolfor a clean room solution. The system may provide a platform thatprovides energy usage and facility operations information to customerswhile also shortening engineering time for partners. In addition, theplatform may allow one to offer remote services for long term datastorage (for compliance purposes), remote diagnostics at the devicelevel, and an ability for remote data viewing to assist partners andcustomers in the future.

The following may be some of the issues being faced. Customer'slaboratories may consume large amounts of energy per square foot. Ownersmay want systems like the present system that will help them save energybut are not necessarily getting actionable data from their buildingmanagement system (BMS). Actionable data may relate to or be informationthat allows a decision to be made or an action to be taken. Forinstance, the present system or approach may provide an informationplatform via energy dashboards that allow owners to take steps to helpreduce energy usage. A dashboard having a simple red/yellow/green reportwhich shows managers the excessive energy usage rate by department,accompanied by the “top three reasons for changing the energy system atthe company” is actionable.

The dashboards provided here may enable end users that are notnecessarily familiar with energy usage to understand how, for example,fumehood exhaust relates to something such as gallons of gas or carbonemissions, that is, by leaving your fumehood open when not occupied, onemay be wasting, for an example, an equivalent of 100 gallons of gas ayear. The present approach may alert and allow one to prevent thiswaste.

The present approach may provide a way for facility personnel to easilyidentify problems, check system status, monitor safety hazards andcertification data with certain equipment, build monthly reports, andmake setpoint changes in an easy to understand manner. With the presentapproach, facility personnel do not necessarily have to either contact acontrols partner for service, or come through factory training andbecome an expert on the respective system to understand how the systemworks and to make changes.

The present approach may provide a way to aid in compliance reporting.Reports that are generated do not necessarily have to go through a thirdparty BMS system before the data can be stored. The present approach mayavoid a layer of complexity in that if the BMS equipment ever has anissue, the compliance reports should reflect that. If this layer is notavoided, then it may look like that the equipment or room environmentconditions (such as temperature) had an issue when it was really anissue with the BMS communication or sampling rate. Adding the presentreporting/data trending feature may allow a first hand look at theconditional data in an environment. This look may eliminate the thirdparty margin of error, and since one may be a critical space expert,having a report generated from the system should eliminate complexityand ensure the data is as accurate as it can be.

Without the present approach, business partners may need to use multipletools in order to configure, commission and integrate a present solutionto BMS products. The present approach may simplify the partners' effortwhich can reduce their engineering effort and make the partners morecompetitive in a bid process.

The present approach may make it easy to quickly construct visualizationof building control systems with easy point mapping for large dimensionbuildings.

The present approach may have a framework that can easily adapt fordifferent critical environment market segments. It may have a singledashboard framework that gets data from multiple JACE (Java applicationcontrol engine) stations and provides a transparent view of the overallbuilding, and a single unified view of all the devices in the buildingnetwork.

The present approach may easily enable owners to do virtually anythingwithout a third party BMS system tied into the system integration orwithout full factory training and a complete and thorough knowledge ofhow the system works.

A goal of the present approach may be to provide a more efficient mannerto collect data from room-level devices using an energy dashboard beinglab/zone specific with actionable data (a differentiator). The presentapproach may have an energy based dashboard for a critical environmentsegment to provide actionable data.

Actionable data may incorporate rolling trends, scheduling capabilities,reporting tools that support customers' compliance with regulations,room-level configuration integration wizards, energy dashboards withactionable data, a providing of critical environmental information andtools, and solutions to support energy reduction initiatives, operationoptimization tools, safety reports, and compliance reporting.

Data visualization may involve visualizing the data in an easy tounderstand format. Visualization may include dashboards for currentvalues, alarms, histories, safety, and system health (communicationhealth). A building owner or system owner may be the one paying for andowning a total system after it is installed and started up. The ownermay be provided with information regarding the safety of its spaces,environmental conditioning (such as temperature, humidity, air changesper hour (ACH), indoor air quality (IAQ)), pressurization, directionalairflow, occupancy, as well as the ability to manipulate its spaces fortesting and to override things such as temperature, airflow (inemergencies), and change set points.

The present approach may utilize a market based style sheet scheme, andcustomized libraries and template for an easy configuration. End usersmay use these items to monitor building performances, critical roomconditions for system monitoring, and diagnostics.

System integrators may use the present system to set up, configure andmonitor a job site. A customized dashboard tool may provide default setsof dashboard templates that are specialized for customer profiles, andsystem components. For instance, a health care customer may have adifferent template package than a research customer. The templates mayneed to be well-defined for the specific needs of different users onlyto see information that is pertinent to them. This may allow different“packages” to be sold for different customer demographics.

The present approach may have a customized workbench tool that providessets of dashboard gadgets (components, building blocks) that the usercan use to construct a dashboard. These items may include gadgets forfunctions such as energy usage, room safety (e.g., volatile organiccompound (VOC), CO2, CO and O2 level measurements), hood information,emergency modes, weather data, notes, blank gauges, history charts, anda realtime clock.

A user may be able to customize default templates or create a newtemplate, by assembling gadgets, and doing a modification within thedashboards that are provided by a partner over the web. The presentapproach may allow modifications without the end user or partner havinga workbench loaded on his or her computer or tablet. A user may log intoan energy dashboard for the same thing and view a real-time point valueand override it as necessary. The data for the dashboards may be pulledfrom the room level and networked devices through Macro Servers(legacy), Micro Servers (legacy), LLI's, BACnet MS/TP devices and openBACnet/IP or BACnet Ethernet points.

The present dashboards may be built from pre-made templates on the jobsite or ahead of time. The dashboards may also have the flexibility tobe added, deleted, or customized on the fly by the partners. Data mayinclude, but not necessarily be limited to, room airflow, fume hoodairflow, device alarms, temperature data, room offset, room pressure,IAQ data, humidity data, emergency mode data, energy usage calculations,air change rates, user status, occupancy status, and almost any functionof controls equipment that would normally show up in present existingintegrations.

The dashboard displays may follow a typical browser-based dashboardparadigm of displaying gadgets on a structure grid. Gadgets may displaysystem and calculated data via a standard gadget library of gauges, andmulti line charts.

The dashboard may have a functionality to be available for air balancersor safety/audit personnel to change airflow setpoints and reheatpositions for startup, verification, and troubleshooting purposes. Thedashboard may have a function for adjusting the flow curve in a controlsvalve about plus or minus 10 percent from factory limits.

The dashboard may support at a global level selectable units for SI orEnglish. Temperature units may be selectable for Fahrenheit (English) orCelsius (SI). Flow units may be selectable from CFM (English), M3H, orL/S (SI). The dashboard may have an ability to globally select units ofcurrency.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a dashboard 11 having a customizable gadget for acritical environment. The dashboard shows gadgets 12 and 13 indicatingfume hood status and air flow status, respectively. Also, alarm statusand hood certification may be shown by gadgets 14 and 15, respectively.FIG. 2 is a diagram of a portion of dashboard 11 showing object modelnavigation 16 with Building 1 and Hood 3 selected. FIG. 3 is a diagramof dashboard 11 of FIG. 1 but with a designation label 17 indicating“Hood 3” of a “Building 1”. FIG. 4 is a diagram of a point values tablegadget 18 having an additional override capability. FIG. 5 is a diagramof a configure gadget having localization support. FIG. 6 is a diagramof dashboard 11 having a drop-down menu 20 with a profile manager andfavorites.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of hardware architecture for a dashboard system 145.There may be a JACE 146 or a web supervisor 147 connected to a BACnetbus 148. An HTML5 149 may be connected to the JACE 146 or web supervisor147. A Niagara™ Fox 151 may be connected to the JACE 146 or websupervisor 147. A database 152 may be connected to the JACE 146. A BAS153 may be connected to bus 148. A macro server 154 may be connected toone or more (routers) RTR's 155. Each RTR 155 may be connected to asupply 156, one or more hoods 157, and a (general exhaust valve) GEX158. A micro server (JACE 200) 159 may be connected to one or moresupply 161 and exhaust 162 pairs.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a dashboard system software dataflow which showwater high level software objects and dataflow. A waterfall supervisor164 may have a Niagara™ HTTP web server 165 connected to cloud 166 formovement of web services and HTML5 pages between web server 165 andcloud 166. HTML5 templates 167 may be available to web server 165. Ananalytics and data mining module 168 may be connected to web server 165.Other waterfall business logic 169 may be connected to web server 165. Aschedule, trend and alarm service module 171 may be connected to module168. An archive device 172 may be connected to module 171 and to adatabase 173 offsite from supervisor 164. Database 173 may contain apoint rolling history, an alarm logs, schedules, and other items. Adatabase 174 local within supervisor may be connected to module 171. AJ2 LLI driver 175 may be connected to other waterfall business logic andmodule 171. Driver 175 may provide and receive web services,configurations, diagnostics, and so on relative to a J2-LLI mechanism176 offsite from supervisor 164. A data aggregator 177 may be connectedto other waterfall business logic 169, and modules 168 and 171.Aggregator 177 may be connected to a Niagara™ BACnet driver 178 andother Niagara drivers 179. Driver 178 may be connected to an offsitemicro server/macro server 181 and J2-LLI mechanism 176. Other drivers179 may be connected to offsite 3rd party devices 182. Connections toserver 181 and devices 182 may involve translator features similar tothose of server 181.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a dashboard configuration screen 184 that mayallow for an easy creation of dashboard pages. A user may draw fromlibraries of preconfigured dashboards, gadgets, and algorithms that maybe used directly. A dashboard configurator may be an easy tool thatpermits the user to manage a dashboard layout. Automatic point mappingsmay be between dashboard elements and control points.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a point selector screen 186 that may allowintuitive and intelligent point mapping.

FIG. 11 is a diagram which shows a flowchart 188 for providing an easysetup of a dashboard for a building control system. The dashboard for abuilding system may be created within thirty minutes. Flowchart 186 maybe an example for creating a dashboard for a control system at a jobsite (e.g., MIT). One may go from a start 191 to a step 192 to create ajob, e.g., an MIT job. At step 193, one may configure generic dashboardsettings, for instance, in less than five minutes. An existing systemstructure may be imported in an XML format at step 194. A full dashboardsystem may be automatically created using templates. This step may alsotake less than five minutes. The system may be downloaded to a physicaldevice and the points and network may be verified as working properly atstep 195. Step 195 may take about 15 minutes. At a step 196, dashboardcontent may be verified in about five minutes. The creating may end atstep 197.

FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 may involve some of the steps of diagram 188utilized in creating a dashboard. FIG. 12 is a diagram of a screen 201which indicates where a site may be selected for a job. FIG. 13 is adiagram of a screen 202 where generic dashboard settings may beconfigured. FIG. 14 is a diagram of a screen 203 showing a resultantdashboard.

FIG. 15 is a flow diagram showing steps for creating a dashboard viewrevealing contributions of a technician 206 and a user 207. Technician206 may proceed along a series steps on a Phoenix Controls (PC)workbench 208. User 207 may proceed along a series of steps on a PC webdashboard 209 (e.g., a PC supervisor or VTM 700).

As a technician 206, one may create a new job (e.g., MIT) at a step 211.At a step 212, an object model navigation may be constructed and save asa job bog file (e.g., MIT.bog). Dashboards and algorithms may be autocreated at a step 213 and saved as dashboard.xml. Information ofvirtually all of the gadgets may be stored here. Dashboards andalgorithms may be created using a workbench configurator at a step 214.Vantage functional point points (VFPT's) may be mapped with physicalcontrol points at step 215. At step 216, one may download to physicaldevices and verify that the points and a network are working properly.An output from step 216 may go to a PC VTM 700 (JACE 7) 217 or a PCsupervisor 218.

As a user 207, one may have two paths to creating a dashboard andgadgets from a first step 221 of logging in the PC web dashboard. Step221 may be connected o a Niagara™ framework 231 for authentication,authorization and category services. One may navigate to an object modeldashboard view at step 222. An object model flow may be attained at astep 223, which may be read from a job bog file. One may select anentity, e.g., a fume hood device, at step 224. A dashboard, e.g., asafety dashboard, may be selected at a step 225. At step 226, gadgetinformation may be read from dashboard.xml and display a dashboard forvirtually all gadgets with points and logs. User 207 may add thedashboard to MyDashboards at a step 227. At step 228, user 207 may addthe dashboard to My Favorites which could be at UserPreference.xlm. User207 may make unit configuration changes at step 229 that may also besaved at UserPreference.xlm.

The other path from step 221 may be to a step 232 for navigating toMyDashboard view. A new dashboard may be created at a step 233. Thelayout of the dashboard may be done at a step 234. A new gadget may beadded at a step 235. VFPT points/algorithms may be selected at a step236. Gadget configurations may be specified at step 237. The dashboardmay be displayed for all gadgets with the points and logs. One may relayout the gadgets at step 239. The dashboard, gadget, layout, and selectedVFPT information may be saved from steps 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237and 239 to UserDashboard.xml. From step 239 of the second path, user 207may make unit configuration changes that may be saved atUserPreference.xml. The dashboard view, gadget data and so forth may beexported as PDF, CSV and the like at step 241. User 207 may logout atstep 242.

Intelligent gadgets to visualize critical environmental data in wetchemistry labs, healthcare and life science environment may be easy toconfigure, customize and deploy for a web dashboard presentation.Although various visualization techniques for visualizing data from abuilding control system appear to exist, virtually all thesevisualization tools may be difficult to set up, and lack intuitiveness.There does not necessarily appear a way to quickly construct avisualization of building control systems with easy point mapping forlarge dimension buildings. There appears a need to address user-basedviews, and provide customized smart gadgets and a set of base gadgetsfor ad hoc gadget creation and customization. The gadget framework mayneed to easily adapt for different critical environment market segments.Gadget visualization may need to have an intelligence to recognize thecontext where it is created and automatically configure itself. The needfor the present approach may stem from the fact that, creating a sitevisualization has virtually always been for the most time a taking and abig concern for system integrators. There appears to be a need to have“smartness” built into the visualization framework to understand thecontext of the site and to auto create a template gadget which canconfigure itself and provide a library of generic gadgets which can beconfigured and customized by the system integrators to meet the needsfor a specialized data visualization.

The present system may provide a gadget container framework for datavisualization for critical environments in a building for various marketsegments like wet chemistry lab, healthcare, life science, and so on.The present system may provide a framework for data visualizationcontrol systems. The system may be based on a flexible gadget containerlayout framework which can enable the user to easily customize the jobpresentation. A job may be based on a physical representation of thebuilding in terms of floor, room, building, zone, and so forth. In thepresent system, virtually all of these may be referred to as entities.System object libraries may include out-of-the-box preconfiguredentities as well as generic gadgets for these entities. An entity-basedgadget may allow automatic point mapping with no user setup andconfiguration required. System gadgets may provide instant visualizationfor critical building control information like flow, pressure,temperature, and so on. A system gadgets library may be customizablebased on the market segment and customer by allowing a market basedstyle sheet scheme.

The present system may incorporate a few categories of visualizationgadgets. They may be generic gadgets and smart gadgets. The genericgadgets do not necessarily contain any entity information orintelligence. They may be used for a generic point display and serve asbuilding blocks for the more sophisticated gadgets. A generic gadget maybe customized by the end user and be converted into a smart gadget.Generic gadgets may provide several key function guidelines forpresentation themes that apply to virtually all gadgets. The idea of ageneric gadget may stem from the fact that many gadgets have the same orsimilar functions, such as selecting points, changing label text,display settings, filter criteria, point override, language settings,and so forth.

Smart gadgets of the present system may have built-in control systemintelligence that either allows automatic point mapping during dashboardconstruction time, and/or display control system information in a uniqueand user friendly way. A most basic “smartness” may be achieved via aconcept of a vantage functional point (VFPT) which defines the functionof such point within a control system. There may be some of gadget datablocks that provide certain fixed functions. These blocks may be used invarious gadgets. Some of such gadget data blocks may incorporate alarmstatus, control status and point mapping intelligence.

Alarm status may display whether the device is having an active alarm.It may typically display statuses such as “Normal”, “Offline”, “Alarm”(display the alarm type, Jam alarm) and may be linked to the output ofan alarm status algorithm. Alarm status may be in the gadget of anentity, such as a device summary entity, and may be in one item in analarm point gadget.

Control status may map to the output of the control status algorithm,displaying the status of the selected control loops. Typical statusvalues may be “Normal”/“Low Warning”/“High Warning”/“Low Alarm”/“HighAlarm”/“Faulty”. This status may be linked to an algorithm controlstatus. There may be several loops such as hood status (simply whetherthe hood is in use/waste), flow offset status, pressure control status,temperature control status (a simple implementation could be to map tocontrol point temperature status of the device), and humidity controlstatus.

Point mapping intelligence may incorporate the following items. One maymap to the points at the current entity or its child entities. Bothcalculated points and physical points may be included. One may map tothe points (BVantagePoint) that have the same VFPT as indicated in thegadget point's VFPT property. If there is only one such point found, itmay be automatically mapped (i.e., its ORD may be copied into gadgetpoint's ORD property). If there is more than one matching point, thepoint that has the highest level in the object model tree may be mapped.If a matching point cannot be found, one may repeat a search with thepoint that has the same unit type as the VFPT. In the workbench GUI(graphical user interface), a user may be able to examine and replace anautomatically mapped point by using a point selection screen. Theabove-noted rules may be implemented in the point selection screen aswell as a standard filter.

In a data communication scheme, a dashboard may support several schemessuch as COV (change of value), a slow poll, a normal poll and a fastpoll from a Niagara™ AX JACE. The actual timing intervals may be definedin the JACE station preferences XML file.

The present system may provide following generic gadgets that can beused by technicians to create a web based visualization for controlequipment. A point viewer gadget may allow users to view a list of liveBoolean or numeric points across a job. Status color may be used so thepoint values that are in an alarm are highlighted for quick recognition.The point table gadget may be used to monitor multiple variables acrossthe entire job site. The point viewer gadget may be a type of tablegadget and support features like a show/hide column, rearrange columns,sort columns, paging, and so forth. A sample point viewer may be used asa reference. A point viewer gadget may be configured to display a listof real time values. The user may be able to add points by selecting theadd point button in the gadget or by clicking on the gadget configureoption. Points may be removed from the table by selecting the points tobe removed and clicking on delete. An add point popup window may allow asearch capability to search for a point through a Niagara subsystem. Thesearch may be either a wild card, intellinsense, or a menu based search.

FIGS. 16, 17 and 18 indicate how gadgets may be managed. FIG. 16 is adiagram of a screen 251 which reveals a list 252 of pre-configuredgadgets that may be used on a dashboard, as indicated by selection 253.An easy to read list 248 may be noted in FIG. 48. FIG. 17 is a diagramof a screen 255 which shows VFPT's that may allow easy point mapping.The approach may permit creating links between gadget points and actualpoints. FIG. 18 is a diagram of a screen 257 that may indicate anapproach for managing gadgets for a dashboard.

FIG. 19 is a diagram of a table 50 that may list columns supported by apoint viewer gadget. Columns may incorporate a name column 51,description column 52, an example column 53, a default column 54, avisible column 55 and a notes column 56. A row 61 may incorporate a namein column 51, a control point name in column 52, “Hood Flow” in column53, a check mark in column 54, and a check mark in column 55. A row 62may incorporate a point value in column 51, “453.23” in column 53, acheck mark in column 54 and a check mark in column 55. A row 63 mayincorporate a unit name in column 51, “CMH” in column 53, and a checkmark in columns 54 and 55. A row 64 may incorporate a status in column51, “Alarm” in column 53, and a check mark in columns 54 and 55. A row65 may incorporate an Entity ORD in column 51, Object Model ORD of itsparent entity in column 52, “Room 101.Hood_A” in column 53, a check markin columns 54 and 55, and a note “User can select levels. Default is one(parent) only” in column 56. A row 66 may incorporate Point Type incolumn 51, writeable? Numeric or Boolean? Etc. in column 52, “WNum” incolumn 53, a checkmark in column 54 and Enumeration. Only tw in column56. A row 67 may incorporate Source in column 51, Where the point comesfrom: Bacnet, Lon, JACE local, JACE IO in column 52, “Local” in column53, and Relaease-1 only has two: Bacnet, Local in column 56. A row 68may incorporate BACnet inst. in column 51, and BACnet instance number ofthe point in column 52. A row 69 may incorporate BACnet status in column51, BACnet status flag in column 52, “F:F:F:F:F” in column 53, andMouse-over to show details. in column 56.

As to a point status visual indication, the point status may beindicated by color code (text color and background color).

The following operations may be available from the point value gadget.“Delete point(s)” may delete selected (highlighted) points. There may bea “Select All”. A “Refresh” may refresh data values of virtually all orselected points. There may be two types of refresh. One may refresh onlyvalues/status columns and the other may refresh virtually all columns.There may be a “Point Selection”.

FIG. 20 is a diagram of a screen 261 showing point names for gadgetentries for a fume hood. FIG. 21 is a diagram of a screen 262 that mayaid in searching for a VFPT.

There may be a generic analog point gadget. An object library mayinclude a gauge gadget. A generic gauge gadget may be an analog displaywhich can monitor real time values of a unit or point to such things astemperature, power, pressure, and so forth. A large “speedometer” styledisplay may provide users with an instant status indication of importantvariables and may have customizable colored zones for a uniqueconfiguration. The generic gauge gadget may be used to display just asingle value or up to, for example, three values using multiple needles.For example, a circular gadget may be configured to display a currentvalue against a baseline value.

An example gauge gadget 71 with a “speedometer” style for referencepurpose is shown in a diagram of FIG. 22. Gauge gadget data mayincorporate one primary analog control point, shown as a main needle,and optional digital value display (“67” in a temperature example), zeroto two reference control points (secondary needle), zero to threebaseline data of the primary point if applicable shown as backgroundcolor area or lines. The default baseline values may be history, min,max, and average.

Gauge styles may incorporate a speedometer for read-only, a thermometerfor read-only, a slider for read and write (fill or pointer style), anddial for read and write.

Gauge gadget customization may incorporate the following items. Minimumand maximum values of the gauge may be set. The gauge may be setup toshow three configurable color coded status zones. The span of thesezones may be adjustable. One may change the number of values to bemonitored. Multiple needles may be displayed if the gauge is configuredto display multiple values. One may change the point value that needs tobe monitored. One may support a multiple values configuration in casethe gauge contains multiple needles. One may change the label and changegauge style.

FIG. 23 is a diagram of a screen 263 which may aid in configuring agadget, such as, for example, valve flow. Various selections may beavailable for configuring the gadget.

A generic point table gadget may be used to display user selected pointstatus, values, and other information for different entities. Pointtable gadget may be of the form of a table gadget where user may be ableto choose different points that the user wishes to see in the gadget.Points chosen by the user may become column headers in the table gadget.The user may also be able to choose the entities for which the userwants to monitor these points. The chosen entities may be represented asrow headers. A table 72 in FIG. 24 may be used as a reference. Table 72may have columns 73, 74 and 75 entitled Temp Setpoint, Reheat Position,and Feedback, respectively. Table 72 may also have rows 76, 77 and 78entitled Room 1, Room 2 and Floor 1, respectively.

FIG. 25 is a diagram of a screen 264 revealing a points table for a fewentries having several characteristics noted.

A generic point value gadget may be of a key value pair type of gadget.The gadget may allow a user to select a list of points which the userwants to display in the gadget. The selected points may become a label(keys) and the value associated with that point may become the value ofthe label. The gadget may help the user to group a list of similarpoints and specify a specific name to the gadget. Gadgets may be createdusing the generic point value gadget with aid of a table 79 in FIG. 26.Table 79 may have columns 81, 82, 83, 84, 85 and 86, entitled Column,Description, Example, Visible, Edit and Notes, respectively. Table 79may have rows 87, 88, 89 and 90, entitled Label, Value, Unit, andOverride, respectively. Example entries may be shown in the boxes oftable 79.

FIG. 27 is a diagram of a screen 265 indicating, for example, a buildingflow status with measurements of total system hood flow, MAV flow andexhaust flow.

The present approach may provide a generic notes gadget. A note gadgetmay allow the user to type in simple text any details in the gadget andassign a title for the notes. It may support copy and paste. The textentered in the notes gadget may be local to the dashboard that containsthe notes gadget, and may be persistent in a server. There should benecessarily no text format (i.e., Notepad style). The maximum textlength may be 255. Localization should be supported.

Advanced features may be indicated. One may manage multiple notes,instead of displaying a single note as described in the originalrequirements. Each note item may contain four properties as illustratedby a table 101 in FIG. 28. The notes may be displayed vertically inchronological order. Three displaying schemes may be supported. Bydefault, only the latest note is generally displayed. Older notes may beintended only to display their title bars. An older note's text may bedisplayed when a user clicks on its title bar, and may be hidden whenthe user clicks on title bar again. Virtually all notes only displaytitle bars. The note content may be shown/hidden when the user clicks ontitle bar. The full content of virtually all notes may be displayed.

Editing and double-clicking on an individual note's title bar may allowa user to edit its title text. Clicking the delete icon on an individualnote's title bar may remove the note from the gadget. Simple HTMLediting may be supported. Table 101 may have columns 91, 92, 93, 94, 95,and 96, entitled Property, Description, Spec, Optimal?, Web Edit, andNotes, respectively. Table 101 may have rows 97, 98, 99, and 100,entitled Title, Author, Date and Text, respectively. Example entries maybe shown in table 101.

FIG. 29 is a diagram of a screen 266 for hood smoke assets listing acertification number along with a validation by someone. FIG. 30 is adiagram of a screen 267 for a smoke hood indicating a certification,validation and notes, if any.

A live trend gadget may display a live data update from one or morepoints in from a portal server. The points may be raw points orcalculated points for which a trend has been configured in Niagara™. Thefollowing customization may be allowed on a trend gadget. There may be azoom in and zoom out, easy navigation for a day, week, month, and year,custom date and time range selection, and multiple run time pointselection (i.e., a maximum number of points to be plotted may be set).The live trend gadget may be a line chart that can accept up to, forinstance, ten trends for ten points, respectively.

There may be an entity information gadget. A system gadget library maycontain a generic information gadget that allows a user to select theentity and the properties associated with the entities that can bedisplayed as entity information. It may allow a PC technician to selectthe image for that entity. This may be a read only gadget from the webdashboard by the end user. Properties that may be visible for eachentity might be dependent on the configuration for that entity and willbe selected during the workbench configuration of the gadget.

A web connector gadget may enable a user to connect to virtually anyinternet or intranet web site and display the page in a gadget window. Aweb connect gadget configuration may allow the user to enter a validURL.

The web connect gadget may be useful only in case where connection tothe external URL is available. The web connect gadget may contain acollection of web hyperlinks. Each such hyperlink may enable a user toconnect to the following types of items. One may be any dashboard page,in which case the new page will remain inside the dashboard framework.One may note that virtually any dashboard pages, including pages inone's dashboards, can be used here as long as an active user has accessrights to those pages. Another type may be a non-dashboard page hostedin the same dashboard server. There may be an intranet website, in whichcase the connection to an external URL is not necessarily needed. Theremay be an external internet website. Each hyperlink item may haveproperties as indicated by a table 102 in FIG. 31.

Table 102 may have columns 103, 104, 105, 106, 107 and 108, entitledProperty, description, Value, Required?, Optional?, and Notes,respectively. Table 102 may have rows 109, 110, 111, 112, 113 and 114,entitled Display Text, Small icon, Large icon, URL, Launch Type, and URLType, respectively. The boxes in table 102 may have example entries.

An item may support several types or organizations incorporating textand small icon pairs in a simple list view, text and small icon pairs inan icon view, and/or large icons in an icon view.

When a gadget is launched, nonfunctional hyperlinks (due to variousreasons, e.g., access rights of the current user, no connection toexternal site, and so forth) may be automatically marked (grayed out).The maximum number of hyperlinks allowed, for example, may be twenty.However, this number may be arbitrarily selected, and be subject tochange. The minimum number of hyperlinks may be one. The user shouldsupply one link.

FIG. 32 is a diagram of a screen 268 showing lab energy dashboardsselectable with buttons 269.

The gadget library may provide an asset information gadget that shall beused to display inventory, asset or certification related data. One typeof asset information gadget may involve hood certification.

There may be general functions. One, it may be essentially a customizednotes gadget in that each note item records one set of assetinformation. The mapping between the notes gadget and the asset gadgetmay be indicated in a table 115 of FIG. 33. Table 115 may be used as anexample for asset information type of gadget. Table 115 may have columns116, 117, 118, 119, and 120, entitled Notes Gadget Property, AssetGadget Property, Optional?, Web Edit, and Notes, respectively. Table 115may have rows 121, 122, 123, and 124, entitled Title, Author, Date andText, respectively. Example entries may be shown in table 115.

For displaying a single entity's asset history management, an assetsgadget of an entity may be used to display the history of the assetsinformation of the entity. The most current asset data may be from theentity, but the history can be maintained in the asset gadgets. When auser adds a new one or even edits the current one, the change may besaved into the entity. In other words, an entity object may only storethe most up-to-date asset data.

For displaying current asset information of a group of entities, theassets gadget may also be used to display all current asset informationof a group of entities. For example, the gadget may be used to displaythe current asset information of all hood entities within a room. Inthis case, the data may be read directly from the entities (i.e., hoodentities in this example).

A canvas point value gadget may display a set of control point values ona canvas framed by a gadget border. The location of the point valuestring may be specified by X (horizontal) percent and Y (vertical)percent. There may be one background picture fit within the canvas. Adiagram 125 in FIG. 34 shows an example of an unoccupied and operatingfumehood 126 having a sash 127 being 100 percent open with an open valve128 connected to the fumehood passing exhaust at about 1000 CFM. Analarm status with an emergency override may be noted of fumehood 126.There may be zero to five command buttons for a point value override.Hyperlinks may be embedded in the same way. The canvas point gadget maybecome a map-navigation gadget.

Several smart gadgets may be noted. One gadget may be an entity summarygadget. For each entity type, there may be one entity summary gadgetthat displays the most critical or summary information of the gadget.The size of gadget may be fixed for a particular entity type, but canusually be a single cell. The actual content and layout design may bespecified for each entity type here. There appears to be no need forscrolling in that virtually all data should be visible.

A title bar may have the following features. There may be an optionalentity icon picture such as a 32×32 icon that uniquely identifies theentity type, for example, Room Hood, Hood icon, Job, and so on. Theicons may be described in the icons section (a link may be needed).There may be a mandatory entity name that is a name property of anentity instance, stored in station BOG file. An example may be “PatientRoom W-119”, or “Hood 1”. There may be an optional entity status tag. Astatus tag property of an entity instance may be stored in a station BOGfile. An example may be “In Use”. One may look at an entity spec (a linkmay be helpful).

The content of the entity gadget may display a combination of thefollowing elements. It may be up to the dashboard designer to determinean actual layout. An entity description: may have a description propertyof the entity instance. It may be stored in station BOG file. By defaultit is not necessarily shown.

There may be one embedded single gauge gadget that displays one controlpoint (one may see the single gauge gadget for details) of the entityinstance. There may be zero to two embedded point value lists. Each listmay contain up-to-five point value/statuses of the entity and itschildren entities. One may see a point value and status display. Theremay be an entity status, generally only if a calculated point “entitystatus” is available.

A device summary gadget may be based on an entity summary gadget,providing the top level data for a present system device entity type.The device subtypes (e.g., LvcHood, LvcSccCmpt, BvcTXRET_E, and soforth) may determine the specific content of the device summary gadgets,such as the device icon and default point selections. The pointselections of instances may be configurable by administrative user at aweb dashboard. Entity summary gadget may usually be used for a genericentity that has no pre-defined function.

General functions may be noted. Many actual point selections of thisgadget may be done in a vantage workbench during the commission time. Sothe software (both the dashboard and workbench) may ensure that the usercan easily configure the gadget. A point override may be allowed. Theremay be an auto-setup. In a workbench tool, the points/status data blockmay be automatically added and configured based on the device type andintegrated point. For example, if there are temperature points(effective setpoint and feedback), a temperature control status item maybe added to the gadget. The default point (VFPT) and status selectionmay be illustrated in a table 130 of FIG. 35. Table 130 may have columns131, 132, 133, 134, and 135, entitled Device, Desc, Gauge, Status Area,and Point value Area, respectively. Rows 136 may list the devices andtheir corresponding properties as indicated by columns 131-135. Exampleentries may be shown in table 130.

A room summary gadget may display a most critical or top-levelinformation of a room entity. The size of the gadget may be a fixedsingle cell. Content may include the entity name, description, entityicon picture (one for each entity type), up to three live point values,an overall entity status (output of an algorithm entity status), andnotes from the entity summary dashboard page. The actual content andlayout design may be specified separately for each entity type in thissection. However, if not necessarily specified for a particular entitytype, just the following elements may be displayed by default, such asentity name, description, entity icon picture, and overall entitystatus. Double clicking on the room summary gadget (preferably at thetitle bar) one may hyperlink to the summary dashboard page of this roominstance. An admin user may be able to change point selection for eachentity summary gadget, instance, add/remove notes, or add/remove entitystatus. FIG. 36 is a diagram of an example room summary gadget 137.

An entity alarm gadget may display alarm information for a sourceselected. Standard alarm information in the Niagara™ alarm console maybe displayed. The alarm gadget may also provide a details link for oneto view alarm details associated with a particular alarm. Thefunctioning of alarm gadget may be similar to the console recipient ofNiagara™ with an exception that no actions on the alarm will be allowed.The user may be able to select the source from the Niagara™ subsystem toview the alarm. The alarm gadget may be of the type of table gadgetwhich provides standard table gadget operations such as column sorting,hiding, reordering, and so forth.

FIG. 37 is a diagram of a screen 271 indicating a status of each listedoverall alarm such as for diversity, flow, sash sensor, jam and IO.

A hood summary gadget may display the most critical or top-levelinformation of the hood entity. The size of the gadget may be a fixedsingle cell. Content may include the hood name, description, hood iconpicture (optional), and one single gauge showing the hood controlinformation (hood flow). Other data (e.g., user status, Sash openingpercentage and face velocity) may be displayed in a list. Overall hoodstatus (e.g., alarms, energy waste stats) may also be displayed. Doubleclicking the hood summary gadget (preferably at the title bar) mayhyperlink to the summary dashboard page of this hood instance.

A control loop status gadget may be noted. The control status gadget maybe based on the generic point table gadget, displaying a list of controlloop data such as setpoint, feedback, status, error, and so forth. Theseitems may be in columns of a table. Control name may be the name of thecontrol loop. It may be editable in workbench and web by an admin user,for example, “Room Balance Control”. A set point may be the value of theset point of the control loop. The setpoint may be either from an actualcontrol point (e.g. FLOW_OFFSET_SP), or entered as a constant. Feedbackmay be a value of the feedback of the control loop. It should be from anactual control point (e.g., FLOW_OFFSET).

Status may be an enum type that indicates the overall control status,such as OK, Warn Low, Warn High, Alarm Low, Alarm High, and Fault. Theremay be a visual indication. The status indicator may be graphic, forinstance, a LED and a different color scheme. Error percentage may bethe relative error between a setpoint and feedback, that is,“(feedback−set point)/set point”.

A configuration may incorporate the following items. There may be anadd/remove control loop from the list. For each control loop, one mayspecify ORD to feedback and set point control points. One may note thata setpoint can be a constant. There may be an optional warning lowthreshold, an optional warning high threshold, an alarm low threshold,and an alarm high threshold. If not specified, a check for thatthreshold may be skipped. The control name of each loop may be modifiedby an admin user. The status indicator type may be an LED or text. Otherconfigurations may be offered by the generic point table gadget.

FIG. 38 is a diagram of a screen 272 showing a control loop overview fora wet chemistry lab.

A hood flow usage summary gadget may be noted. For each hood entity,there may be one hood flow usage summary gadget that displays the airflow usage information of the hood. The size of gadget may be fixed fora particular entity type, but is usually a single cell. There may be nonecessary need for scrolling in that all data should be visible. Contentof the entity gadget may display a combination of the followingelements. The dashboard designer may determine an actual layout.

A hood flow usage gauge may have one embedded single gauge gadget thatdisplays hood flow feedback (Hood/HOOD_FLOW) as a primary needle, anoptional optimal flow value (an output of algorithm HoodOptimalFlow),and an optional baseline information of HOOD_FLOW. A one embedded pointvalue list may list three point values of HOOD_FLOW, SASH_OPENING,USER_STATUS. A hood status may display a hood device alarm point status.

A hood flow usage trend gadget may be able to display a history trend ofa single hood in a composite chart. The data being displayed mayincorporate the following items. There may HOOD_FLOW that is an actualhood flow feedback. The feedback may be in terms of a line chart. Theremay be Optimal_Flow that is a calculated optimal flow value. It shouldbe trended in a server in terms of a line chart. There may be a sashopening (0-100%) in terms of a line chart. USER_STATUS may be shown interms of a line chart.

User interaction may utilize a dropdown list to change history start andend, and a zoom-in and out. A customization may utilize a change hoodwhere a user may select the hood, as an option, a user may selectindividual point(s), and a change chart type.

A flow energy waste summary gadget may display the instant andaccumulated airflow waste for an entity (a room, a hood, and so forth),either in a flow unit or currency (with a flow cost rate as parameter).

Data and charts may incorporate an optional air flow feedback, an airflow waste that equals an air flow feedback minus an air flow optimal(calculated and trended), or a dollar rate times (air flow feedback−airflow optimal), and an accumulated flow waste during a history period.

A customization may incorporate a change entity that is of a room(TOTAL_SUPPLY_FLOW), hood (HOOD_FLOW), or device (FLOW). In anoptional/advanced sense, if no entity is selected, a user may be able touse a point selector to select flow feedback and optimal flow. Data typesuch as flow or currency may be changed. Units and currency should beconsistent. The change may be global at a dashboard level. If no optimalflow is available, then only flow feedback should be displayed.

A device canvas point gadget may be a customized canvas point valuegadget that is customized for a particular device model (POC,SccLabCmpt). For each device model, there may be one such gadget, with adedicated background picture, point selection and layout. Systemintegrators may use the gadget to setup, configure and monitor a jobsite. End users may use the gadget to monitor building performances, andcritical room conditions for system monitoring and diagnostics.

FIG. 39 is a diagram of a hood gadget 138 showing a hood 1 flow usage.FIG. 40 is a diagram of an alarm gadget 139. FIG. 41 is a diagram of aweb connector gadget 141. FIG. 42 is a diagram of a point value gadget142. FIG. 43 is a diagram of a trend gadget 143.

One approach appears to be mainly about an intuitive and actionabledashboard created for critical room solutions. Object model navigationmay be created by the user to view the corresponding dashboard to anobject model which can be a building, floor, room or device like a fumehood. The object model navigation dashboard may be uneditable by theuser as it is administrative or PC technician specified. However, anoption may be created for the PC user by which one can add it toMyDashboard and thereby customize it as per the new settings provided.For example, relative to a “BioPharama” building in an “ObjectModeldashboard” 244 in a diagram of FIG. 44, a user may see all‘pref-configured gadgets (e.g., Face Velocities gadgets, Alarms gadgets,CO2 gadgets etc) with its control points configured.

The screen shots 245, 246 and 247 of FIG. 45, FIG. 46 and FIG. 47,respectively, may show how users can add the object model dashboards toMyDashboards to customize them for their personal view.

In short, one may differentiate how a user can add a customized andactionable dashboard to the object model which also has a direct mappingwith the workbench configurator and job configurator, respectively.Through this, a user may, for example, in a laboratory, save a largeamount of energy per square foot and also get an informative way how tosave energy. A user may check system status, monitor safety hazards andcertification data with Phoenix™ equipment, build monthly reports, andmake setpoint changes in an easy to understand manner. Also, the reportsgenerated help in compliance reporting. Previously, any reports thatwere generated had to go through a third party BMS system before thedata could be stored. This approach may add a layer of complexity inthat if the BMS equipment ever has a problem, the compliance reports mayreflect that. It may appear like the equipment or room environmentconditions (such as temperature) had an issue when it was really anissue with the BMS communication or sampling rate. Adding the presentreporting/data trending feature may allow a first hand look at theconditional data in an environment. This may eliminate the third partymargin of error, and since one may be a critical space expert, having areport generated from the present system can eliminate complexity andensure the data are as accurate as it can be.

Various differentiation factors of dashboard may be noted. Intuitive andunique gadgets may make life of PC user easy. A list 248 of such gadgetsmay appear in a diagram of FIG. 48.

Thus, for the present disclosure, one may say what the gadgets are andhow they can be easily configured for critical environment solutions.

One may stress an object model hierarchy formed from a PC Supervisor inthe dashboard, and how each object model is associated withcorresponding dashboards.

One may stress about a dozen gadgets and their features in short, suchas a like point viewer gadget, gauge gadget with “baseline”, a pointtable gadget, a point value, a web connect, a canvas point gadget, acontrol loop gadget and an entity info gadget (i.e., a gadget whichdisplays the overall building status and allows one to drill down to thedevice level) as the main distinguishing ones.

A home dashboard may be a workbench configurator in Niagara™ forbuilding solutions. The dashboard may cover a building and is a genericdashboard, and permit easy customization and configuration for points.The dashboard may provide for a simple and easy way of maintaining thedashboard and gadgets. It may enable an easy way of duplicating thedashboards with virtually all of the gadgets and then auto map thepoints, algorithms, and so forth. The dashboard may permit one to add atemplate dashboard library or entity and points may be auto mapped withan entity. Resizing of gadgets may be achieved at run time.

To recap, a visualization mechanism for a building control systeminvolving critical environments, may incorporate a framework forcontaining gadgets, and one or more gadgets situated in the framework.The one or more gadgets may be customizable for visualization of data ina critical environment market segment of a job site. The job site may bebased on a physical representation of a building. Some of the one ormore gadgets may be converted into smart gadgets via customization.

The smart gadgets may incorporate built-in control system intelligencefor automatic mapping.

One or more gadgets may incorporate data blocks. Data blocks may providealarm status, control status and point mapping intelligence. Alarmstatus may indicate whether an alarm equipped device has an activealarm. Control status may indicate a status of a selected control loop.

Point mapping intelligence may incorporate a mapping to points of acurrent entity or its child entities. Points mapped may have a vantagefunctional point the same as in the points' vantage functional propertyof a gadget. If one point is found, the point may be automaticallymapped. If more than one point is found, a point having a highest levelin an object model tree may be selected. If a point cannot be found, asearch may be repeated with a point that has a same unit type as avantage functional property of a point being sought.

The visualization of data may be web-based.

Gadgets may incorporate analog point gadgets and gauge gadgets. A gaugegadget may be for monitoring real time values of a unit or a point oftemperature, power, pressure, other parameters, and the like. One ormore styles of gauge gadgets may be selected from a group consisting ofspeedometers, thermometers, sliders, and dials.

Gadgets may incorporate analog point gadgets and gauge gadgets. Acustomization of a gauge gadget may incorporate designating minimum andmaximum values of a gauge, configuring color coded status zones, andadjusting spans of the color coded status zones.

An approach for visualizing data for a building control system, mayincorporate visualizing data for a critical environment in a building,providing a framework for data visualization, selecting one or moregadgets for placement in the framework, and converting one or moregeneric gadgets into a smart gadget via customization. A smart gadgetmay incorporate a built-in control system intelligence.

The control system intelligence may incorporate automatic point mappingduring dashboard construction time.

A generic gadget may provide key function guidelines for presentationthemes that apply to virtually all gadgets. A smart gadget mayincorporate a vantage functional point that defines a function of thepoint within a control system for a building.

A gadget may incorporate one or more data blocks. The one or more datablocks may incorporate one or more items of a group consisting of alarmstatus, control status and point mapping intelligence.

Alarm status may display whether a device has an active alarm. Controlstatus may display a condition of a selected control loop. Point mappingintelligence may incorporate mapping points at an entity that have thesame vantage function point as indicated in a vantage function pointproperty of the gadget.

One or more gadgets may selected from a group consisting of a trendgadget, a point viewer gadget, a generic gauge gadget, an entityinformation gadget, a notes gadget, a point value gadget, a canvas pointvalue gadget, a web connect gadget, an entity point gadget, a controlloop status gadget, a vantage function point alarm gadget, a point chartgadget, and an entity status gadget.

A visualization system for a building control system, may incorporate agadget container framework, and one or more gadgets placed in the gadgetcontainer framework. The one or more gadgets may be selected for a datavisualization of critical control information of a building at a jobsite. The job site may incorporate a physical representation of thebuilding in terms of entities incorporating a floor, room, building, andzone.

The critical control information may incorporate one or more subjectmatter items selected from a group consisting of wet chemistry labs,healthcare areas and life science environments.

For a room of the building, a control loop may be selected from a groupconsisting of control loops for hood status, flow offset status,pressure control status, and humidity control status, respectively.

A web based visualization for equipment of a building control system mayincorporate a use of point viewer gadget that allows a user to view alist of live Boolean or numeric points across the job site. A pointtable gadget may allow the user to monitor multiple variables across thejob site. The point viewer gadget may be configured to display a list ofreal time values.

An automatically mapped point may be examined and replaced using a pointselection screen of a workbench graphical user interface.

Points may be added to the point view gadget by selecting an add pointbutton in the point view gadget. Points may be removed by selecting thepoints to be removed, and clicking on a delete button.

In the present specification, some of the matter may be of ahypothetical or prophetic nature although stated in another manner ortense.

Although the present system and/or approach has been described withrespect to at least one illustrative example, many variations andmodifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art uponreading the specification. It is therefore the intention that theappended claims be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of therelated art to include all such variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A visualization mechanism for a building controlsystem involving critical environments, comprising: a framework forcontaining gadgets; and one or more gadgets situated in the framework;and wherein: the one or more gadgets are customizable for visualizationof data in a critical environment market segment of a job site; the jobsite is based on a physical representation of a building; and some ofthe one or more gadgets are converted into smart gadgets viacustomization.
 2. The mechanism of claim 1, wherein the smart gadgetscomprise built-in control system intelligence for automatic mapping. 3.The mechanism of claim 1, wherein: one or more gadgets comprise datablocks; data blocks provide alarm status, control status and pointmapping intelligence; alarm status indicates whether an alarm equippeddevice has an active alarm; and control status indicates a status of aselected control loop.
 4. The mechanism of claim 3, wherein pointmapping intelligence comprises: a mapping to points of a current entityor its child entities; and wherein: points mapped have a vantagefunctional point the same as in the points' vantage functional propertyof a gadget; if one point is found, the point is automatically mapped;if more than one point is found, a point having a highest level in anobject model tree is selected; and if a point cannot be found, a searchis repeated with a point that has a same unit type as a vantagefunctional property of a point being sought.
 5. The mechanism of claim1, wherein the visualization of data is web-based.
 6. The mechanism ofclaim 1, wherein: gadgets comprise analog point gadgets and gaugegadgets; a gauge gadget is for monitoring real time values of a unit ora point of temperature, power, pressure, and other parameters; one ormore styles of gauge gadgets are selected from a group consisting ofspeedometers, thermometers, sliders, and dials.
 7. The mechanism ofclaim 1, wherein: gadgets comprise analog point gadgets and gaugegadgets; a customization of a gauge gadget comprises: designatingminimum and maximum values of a gauge; configuring color coded statuszones; and adjusting spans of the color coded status zones.
 8. A methodfor visualizing data for a building control system, comprising:visualizing data for a critical environment in a building; providing aframework for data visualization; selecting one or more gadgets forplacement in the framework; and converting one or more generic gadgetsinto a smart gadget via customization; and wherein a smart gadgetcomprises a built-in control system intelligence.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the control system intelligence comprises automatic pointmapping during dashboard construction time.
 10. The method of claim 8,wherein a generic gadget provides key function guidelines forpresentation themes that apply to virtually all gadgets.
 11. The methodof claim 8, wherein a smart gadget incorporates a vantage functionalpoint that defines a function of the point within a control system for abuilding.
 12. The method of claim 8, wherein: a gadget comprises one ormore data blocks; and the one or more data blocks incorporate one ormore items of a group consisting of alarm status, control status andpoint mapping intelligence.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein: alarmstatus displays whether a device has an active alarm; control statusdisplays a condition of a selected control loop; and point mappingintelligence incorporates mapping points at an entity that have the samevantage function point as indicated in a vantage function point propertyof the gadget.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more gadgetsare selected from a group consisting of a trend gadget, a point viewergadget, a generic gauge gadget, an entity information gadget, a notesgadget, a point value gadget, a canvas point value gadget, a web connectgadget, an entity point gadget, a control loop status gadget, a vantagefunction point alarm gadget, a point chart gadget, and an entity statusgadget.
 15. A visualization system for a building control system,comprising: a gadget container framework; and one or more gadgets placedin the gadget container framework; and wherein: the one or more gadgetsare selected for a data visualization of critical control information ofa building at a job site; and the job site comprises a physicalrepresentation of the building in terms of entities incorporating afloor, room, building, and zone.
 16. The system of claim 15, where thecritical control information comprises one or more subject matter itemsselected from a group consisting of wet chemistry labs, healthcare areasand life science environments.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein for aroom of the building, a control loop is selected from a group consistingof control loops for hood status, flow offset status, pressure controlstatus, and humidity control status, respectively.
 18. The system ofclaim 15, wherein: a web based visualization for equipment of a buildingcontrol system incorporates a use of point viewer gadget that allows auser to view a list of live Boolean or numeric points across the jobsite; a point table gadget allows the user to monitor multiple variablesacross the job site; and the point viewer gadget is configured todisplay a list of real time values.
 19. The system of claim 18, whereinan automatically mapped point is examined and replaced using a pointselection screen of a workbench graphical user interface.
 20. The systemof claim 18, wherein: points are added to the point view gadget byselecting an add point button in the point view gadget; and points areremoved by selecting the points to be removed and clicking on a deletebutton.